Kerala, known as 'God's Own Country', has immense potential to develop medical tourism with major hospitals, travel industry and the state government jointly promoting the lucrative sector.

Medical tourism in Kerala is picking up as an attractive option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and foreign patients, who can get excellent medical care at less than one-fourth the cost in their own country, Director of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Samad IVF Hospital, K G Madhavan Pillai, said.

Pillai noted that Thailand has been successful in attracting huge chunks of health tourists because of the development of world-class infrastructure.

India could follow Thailand's experience and tap medical tourism since it has unique and holistic medicinal services, he said.

"With yoga, meditation, ayurveda, allopathy, and other systems of medicines, India offers a unique basket of services to an individual that is difficult to match by other countries," Pillai told newspersons here.

The availability of high-quality healthcare infrastructure at reasonable prices makes Kerala an ideal destination for medical tourism, he said.

Even things like ordinary medical check-ups cost less in Kerala than they do in Europe and the US, he said, adding that medical tourism has tremendous potential in Kerala, which is also experiencing a tourism boom.

Pillai said their sophisticated infertility clinic in Thiruvananthapuram was currently cooperating with Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), Kerala Travels Interserve Ltd., as well as Pankajakasturi Ayuvedic Hospital to provide a complete medical and holiday package to patients who need longer duration treatment.

( www.chennaionline.com)